This application claims priority of International Application Serial No. PCT/EP00/03661, filed Apr. 22, 2000 and German Application No. 199 19 096.8 filed, Apr. 27, 1999, the complete disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Illumination arrangements in microscopes have a relatively poor efficiency in converting received electrical power into useful light output and they generate bothersome heat. Further, upright stands require installation space which impedes ergonomically favorable arrangements of the microscope stage. Finally, the solutions have many structural component parts and are therefore expensive. Illumination arrangements for microscopes with LEDs or LCDs are known from DE 3108389A1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,985, DE 3734691 C2, and DE 19644662A1.
The disadvantages mentioned above are to be overcome, in accordance with a primary object of the invention, by an LED illumination unit comprising one or more arranged LEDs which are mains-operated or are operated by batteries, as selected.
This object is achieved by a transmitted-light illumination arrangement for microscopes, with at least one LED which is arranged interchangeably in or in the vicinity of the plane of the aperture diaphragm of illumination optics or in front of Kxc3x6hler illumination optics.